Photocredit: Flickr - chris165169

Church graphics have taken a major step forward in that a savvy audience requires well prepared and creative images to drive a message. Learning the software that designs such graphics is a daunting task. Fortunately there are resources available for the entry-level student.

Adobe has products that are helpful in the field and are certainly the industry leader.

Photoshop

This is the all-around hands-down graphics and image design necessity. Mashable has entry-level tutorials available here.

Adobe has their tutorials archived here.

Additionally, I have benefited from Pflearn. They have many youtube videos that take a person step-by-step through the process.

PSD Stack also has over 100 tutorials that are helpful for grasping the power of Photoshop. And furthermore, the editor is a nice guy.

After Effects

This software produces motion graphics. It is not an entry-level drag and drop video editor, but rather a highly sophisticated software that allows for much of the CGI and special effects to which you have become accustomed.

VideoCopilot.net has many tutorials available, plus a basic training here.